ChemStation on Windows 11: which versions work, and how to open your data anyway

Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 on 14 October 2025, and many IT departments are replacing lab PCs with Windows 11 machines. Most ChemStation versions still in use were never released for Windows 11. The instruments keep running, but opening years of archived .D data on a new office PC has become harder.

Which versions run on Windows 11

• OpenLab ChemStation LTS 01.11 is the release Agilent supports on Windows 11. Agilent lists the details on its Windows 11 compatibility page.
• OpenLab ChemStation C.01.09 and C.01.10 are supported on Windows 7 and 10, not on Windows 11.
• ChemStation B.04.x, still common on older instruments, is not officially supported on Windows 11. Some users report it working after updating drivers and libraries (see this Chromatography Forum thread), but that is at your own risk and not something a regulated lab can rely on.
• OpenLab CDS 2.7 and 2.8, Agilent's successor platform, also supports Windows 11. It stores new data in .dx files.

Microsoft still offers paid Extended Security Updates for Windows 10, which buys time for instrument PCs, but not for every office laptop that needs to look at the data.

Your options

1. Upgrade the instrument PC to OpenLab ChemStation LTS 01.11 or OpenLab CDS through Agilent. This is the route for acquisition and for regulated reprocessing, and it usually involves license and validation costs.
2. Keep a Windows 10 PC or virtual machine with your current ChemStation for offline reprocessing. Workable, but it needs IT approval and it ages further every year.
3. Only need to view, compare or export data? You do not need ChemStation at all. Nagura Lab opens .D folders in the browser on Windows 11, Mac or Linux: overlay runs, look at DAD spectra and MS scans, export CSV. Nothing is installed and nothing is uploaded. For scripting, the open-source rainbow library (Python) reads the same files.

Opening old .D data on a Windows 11 PC

1. Copy the .D folders to the PC, or open them from the network drive.
2. Open naguralab.com in Edge, Chrome or Firefox and drop the folders on the page.
3. Tick the signals you want, then use Download CSV or Download PNG.

This works for all ChemStation file versions Nagura Lab reads (.ch 30, 130, 179, 181; .uv; .ms), from files written decades ago to today.

What it does not replace

Nagura Lab is for viewing and exporting. Integration results, calibrations and reports that count for GMP or GLP work must come from your validated chromatography data system.